Welcome to the week 2 review of NXT vs AEW!
Matches
Both brands left a lot to be desired on the table, however, AEW clearly had the edge here with an incredible opening match between Young Bucks & Private Party, great women’s tag match, and swerve ending to the main event. NXT just couldn’t get into the groove all night and fell flat compared to last week and other events.
Grade:
AEW: “A-“ due to 2 subpar matches
NXT: “C” due to just not finding their footing all night
Crowd Reaction
Following the matches, reactions from the crowd were very vocal and vibrant in AEW all night, especially during the Jericho segment. NXT’s crowd was so out of it for much of night that there were portions of the show you could hear legitimate conversations with audience members.
Grade:
AEW: “A” due to being involved and vocal all night
NXT: “D” due to being dead, was there even a crowd there?
Storylines
AEW nailed this one between both the Jericho segment and the ending of the show. Many are criticizing the ending, but it was done very well to continue the story going forward as a rivalry of factions. The highlight segment of the night on NXT was Velveteen Dream calling out Roderick Strong. That segment had to have been directed by Triple H because it had DX written all over it!
Grade:
AEW: “B+” for creativity, including taking shots at WWE
NXT: “C+” only because of the entire Undisputed Era segment
Shock Value
Both brands had plenty of shock moments through the night! But overall, I have to give this one to NXT for pushing the limits of TV-PG ratings with the segment involving Velveteen Dream! The best shock for AEW was Jericho essentially dropping the mic on WWE, which is kind of expected out of him.
Grade:
AEW: “B+” due to Jericho
NXT: “A-“ due to pushing the PG limits
Overall
Overall, AEW definitely had the superior show between in-ring action, mic skills, and crowd involvement. NXT dropped the ball significantly this week from last week. I’m not sure what went wrong and where, but they need to fix it if they expect to compete.
Grade:
AEW: “A-“ due to some low spots, but overall great show
NXT: “C” due to losing the crowd most of the night and lackluster performance
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